2 Bensonhurst Defendants Get Maximum Sentences

NEW YORK — The first two whites convicted in last year`s murder of a black teenager in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn were given maximum sentences Monday.

Joseph Fama, whom prosecutors said was the triggerman in the racial slaying of 16-year-old Yusuf Hawkins, was sentenced to 32 2/3 years to life for second-degree murder and related convictions.

Keith Mondello, identified as the organizer of the mob of whites but who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges by a separate jury, was sentenced to 5 1/3 to 16 years in prison for rioting, unlawful imprisonment and discrimination.

Attorneys for Fama and Mondello, both 19, said they would appeal.

As the first round of sentences were being announced in a case that polarized blacks and whites in the nation`s largest city, attorneys in another racially tinged, high-profile case prepared for trial. The case, involving the rape and assault of a white jogger in Central Park allegedly by a group of black teens, is scheduled for trial later this week. The attorneys held a pre- trial meeting with the judge Monday.

On Sunday, key black activists, Mayor David Dinkins and religious and political leaders in Bensonhurst met in an attempt to sooth racial tension, and all sides reported making progress.

Acting on the recommendation of prosecutors, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Thaddeus Owens issued stiff sentences against Fama and Mondello in the death of Hawkins, who had come to Bensonhurst with some friends to buy a used car last Aug. 23. Edward Boyar, one of the prosecutors, asked for the maximum sentence to show others that such crimes will not be tolerated by society.

When Owens announced the sentence against Fama, it was greeted with cheers from the Hawkins family and tears from Fama`s relatives. The defendant`s mother was led from the court.

Fama was sentenced to 25 years to life on for second-degree murder by depraved indifference to life; 1 1/3 to 4 years for rioting; 1 1/3 to 4 years for each of three counts of unlawful imprisonment; and 2 1/3 to 7 years for criminal possession of a weapon, all to run consecutively.

Speaking with reporters later, Diane Hawkins said: ``It won`t bring my son back, but I`m glad that Joey Fama is going to serve time in jail. The pain will never leave me.``

Earlier in the day, in the same courtroom, Owens sentenced Mondello, saying, ``All Mr. Mondello had to do was go home and call the police.``

Unlike the jurors who had acquitted Mondello on murder and manslaughter charges, the judge was privy to Mondello`s videotaped statement to police in which he admitted organizing the mob because he was under the impression a group of blacks was coming into Bensonhurst to attack him.

Mondello was upset that his former girlfriend, who was celebrating her 18th birthday, had threatened to invite minorities to her party and date black and Hispanic men.

``Mr. Mondello was the catalyst; he started all of this,`` Judge Owens said. ``Without Mr. Mondello, there would not have been a death of anyone.``